Not really, because jumping only really works your legs, where as rotating a jump rope (or this thing) works your arms as well. Plus some people don't have the coordination for a jump rope. I know this first hand because at a party, one of my friends said she couldn't jump rope. We all called bull****, ran down to the wallgreens down the street, and bought a cheap ass jump rope. She couldn't do it worth a damn, and actually almost tripped twice.

Helps you train. I don't see anything silly about it. For people that feel like training without the need for coordination. However when I'm crosstraining I'd prefer to have the rope to help improve coordination and timing.

I found that instead trying to find this one "Healing Device" that was on an infomercial I saw twice by chance. But anyway, it was a pad with around 40 Red LEDs that blinked and you put on your skin and it 'healed pain'. Whenever something like this shows up on TV I get all pissy. I'm the kind of person who when watching a movie at homes, yells how one guy shot his revolver 15 times before reloading in seconds. But anyway, on the commercial it said it was a combination of healing light waves and heat that helped relieve pain. I called BS when it said 'heat' for obvious reasons.

Those red LEDs work. Light can have healing properties. Those red lights are set to a certain frequency similar to that of cells in the body. They've been using it in Asia for years and it's just come to the states fairly recently. I read somewhere that they use similar things on space stations. It does sound odd but it does have some benefits. It can help with pain, heal cuts and other things of that slip my mind at the moment. Different lights set at different frequencies produce different effects on the body that can help with ailments. I thought it was strange at first and still am a bit but from what I've seen it works to some degree. My father has a friend who has ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). His muscles are really tight and he's unable to talk and move. He had this red light therapy done on his legs and those muscles become loosened after a treatment even if for a relatively short period of time.

I haven't heard about the heat thing before like you mentioned unless the body itself was producing heat.

But that clock you linked to probably is a quack.

I know a little something about light....

The red light treatment (not to be confused with red-light treatment....) probably works because of the heat created, not the wavelength of light itself. Red light is right next to infrared light in wavelength, and IR produceds heat. Since skin has a pigment layer that absorbs light, I'd be very surprised if visible light of any color had any effect at all. I think it's the heat loosening up the muscles rather than the red light in the case of your dad's friend.

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"

I think light therapy is, in fact, when you actually see the light. The light that surrounds us is having an influence on our mood and thus also health condition. I know about a therapy with light that imitates the visible light spectrum of the sun, which is actually helping people with depressions or other "mood disorders".

However every electromagnetic radiation (not just the visible spectrum) passes energy to the body that is absorbing it, which is in the end nothing else than causing heat to be produced. This is why x-rays are also harmful, despite the fact that their frequency is waaay below infra red light.

The problem where people get depressed in the winter is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, and the treatment is to sit for a few hours a day under a special light that puts out wavelengths of light similar to the sun.

IR 'light' works by hitting the cells, getting absorbed by them, which makes them heat up. The source that creates the IR may also get warm, and that heat gets transferred to the body, too. Skin's designed to absorb a variety of energy types, and since light is absorbed by the skin before it gets to the layer that has the blood vessels, I'm not sure how light could be used in healing. Warmth certainly is therapeutic, however.

I'd probably look at those light things and be amused at the allegedly 'therapeutic effects' of the different frequencies, and think they were a bit silly like the 'ropeless jumprope'. A heating pad would work just as well and be a whole lot cheaper.

@Ray--the wavelength of x-rays is actually much shorter than infrared (and thus has a much higher frequency) and carries more energy as a result. Your trivia for the day.

From MST3K's spoof of "Hercules Unchained"--heard as Roman medic soldiers carry off an unconscious Greek Hercules on a 1950's Army green canvas stretcher: "Hi, we're IX-I-I. Did somebody dial IX-I-I?"

Jae - XD You are right, of course. As usual, and as the extreme good physician I am, I occasionally switch wavelength and frequency.

However, the impact of light on one's psyche lies at hand - everybody tends to draw happy little trees with happy little birds and a happy little bee on a sun shine day, while a cloudy (but not necessarily colder) day causes most people to play shoot'em'ups XD. I think evolution made this, because when the sun (and thus the summer) comes, every man and woman has happy little erections and want to create happy little offspring thingies

I found that instead trying to find this one "Healing Device" that was on an infomercial I saw twice by chance. But anyway, it was a pad with around 40 Red LEDs that blinked and you put on your skin and it 'healed pain'. Whenever something like this shows up on TV I get all pissy. I'm the kind of person who when watching a movie at homes, yells how one guy shot his revolver 15 times before reloading in seconds. But anyway, on the commercial it said it was a combination of healing light waves and heat that helped relieve pain. I called BS when it said 'heat' for obvious reasons.

BTW: Anyone like BullSh!t? Awesome show.

Now I'm rather skeptical about LEDs for that but at home my dad does have ..this, massive desk light which is supposed to help with seasonal affective disorder and the like, and one morning just after waking up i sat infront of it for a bit and just the light it created made it feel like you were waking up later on, making it easier to wake up.